Extradition moves Mike Lynch saga forward, but it’s not over yet

The Mike Lynch saga moved a step forward this week, after it emerged the the entrepreneur with Irish roots had been extradited to the US from the UK.

Lynch is to stand trial in California on charges including conspiracy to commit securities fraud tied to Hewlett Packard’s purchase of his Autonomy business for more than $11 billion (€10.1 billion) in 2011. That deal was hailed at the time, but within a year HP had written down the value of most of the transaction, alleging mismanagement and accountancy “improprieties”.

In the years since, Lynch has been fighting something of a rearguard action to defend himself against any criminal charges. He has always denied any wrongdoing.

[ Tech tycoon Mike Lynch signals intention to appeal HP ruling ]

He has battled the extradition order for the past four years, and lost his final appeal against it last month. Last year Lynch lost a separate civil case brought by HP against him in London.

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The Autonomy saga is something of a black eye for British business. Before it was sold, Autonomy had been among the most high-profile technology companies in the UK, and the deal had caused some hand-wringing around why its management decided to sell instead of growing the business organically.

Lynch’s legal team contend that he should be tried in the UK, seeing as Autonomy was listed there, while the alleged breaches of accountancy regulations are tied to UK standards, not US ones. Other opponents of the extradition, including UK politicians, question why an extradition treaty aimed primarily at terrorists should be used for alleged white collar crime.

In any case, now that he is in the US, it does not appear Lynch will be going anywhere for a while. Deemed a flight risk, the judge in the case released him on bail of $100 million (€91 million) and ordered him to stay at an address in San Francisco under armed guard, to be paid for by Lynch himself.

This saga will take some time to resolve.